Analysis Of The Book ' Fleur ' By Louise Erdrich

In the story “Fleur,” written by Louise Erdrich, the narrator of the story, Pauline, locks the men in the freezer by putting an iron bar in front of the door. The most obvious reason that Pauline locks the men in the freezer is because she is trying to prove that she has just as much power as the men do in the story, even though it is not confrontational. In the beginning of the story, Pauline tells the readers, “I was a good one to have around because until they needed me, I was invisible” (PN). This quote is the first instance where Pauline expresses that she feels powerless. Pauline’s stepfather, Dutch, made her drop out of school to help with the butcher shop when her mom died. The fact that she has no say in whether or not she can attend

In "The Red Convertible," by Louise Erdrich, the red convertible symbolizes the brothers relationship at different stages through the story. In the story Erdrich uses specific actions of the brothers to show change in their relationship, which corresponds with the red convertible. Erdrich uses scenes involving the red convertible to show different stages of the brothers relationships. The story begins with a road trip representing the boys closeness, then precedes onto Lyman beating up the red convertible symbolizing the brothers separation. Erdrich then continues the story with Henry giving the red convertible to Lyman representing their reunion. The story finishes when Lyman runs the red

The text chosen for this unit id the book Refuge by prominent Australian writer Jackie French (2013). Refuge follows the story of Faris, a young refugee feeling from his homeland with his grandmother to Australia. On the dangerous boat journey from Indonesia to Australia, they encounter a terrible storm where Faris falls unconscious and wakes up living his dream life in Australia. However, he has no recollection of how he got there. Whilst on the beach, he meets a strange group of children all from different times and places. Faris soon discovers that each child is like him, a migrant who travelled to Australia searching for a better place. Each child is living in their own ‘dream’ Australia and the beach provides a sort of ‘refuge’ from reality for them. Eventually, Faris has to make the decision to either continue living in this dream land or face his reality. This book is interesting as unlike other refugee texts, this novel serves to tell the multicultural history of Australian immigration. French relays the more than 60 000 year old history of people travelling to Australia by boat and makes the statement that all immigrants and refugees need to be treated with empathy and understanding.

The author agrees with the idea of women as victims through the characterisation of women in the short story. The women are portrayed as helpless to the torment inflicted upon them by the boy in the story. This positions readers to feel sympathy for the women but also think of the world outside the text in which women are also seen as inferior to men. “Each season provided him new ways of frightening the little girls who sat in front of him or behind him”. This statement shows that the boy’s primary target were the girls who sat next to him. This supports the tradition idea of women as the victims and compels readers to see that the women in the text are treated more or less the same as the women in the outside world. Characterisation has been used by the author to reinforce the traditional idea of women as the helpless victims.

“It was only yesterday she had thought with a shudder, that life might be long.” (Chopin 17). “"Poof!"… gave a revealing look at the victims of domestic abuse and how they wrestle with overcoming their fear and their doubts after suffering years of abusive treatment.” (Toomer 5) Loureen unlike Mrs. Mallard, witnesses her husband’s death first hand during a marital argument. Loureen goes through denial questioning whether her husband’s death. She is happy her husband is dead but also feels guilty, because she knows how a mourning wife should react, but the joy of his demise is greater,” I should be praying, I should be thinking of the burial, but all that keeps popping into my mind is what will I wear on television when I share my horrible and wonderful story with a studio audience…”, Loureen’s husband, Samuel, was physically abusive, as revealed by Florence, Loureen’s best friend and neighbor. “Did that mother***** hit you again?” (Nottage 1563) This abuse, physical by Samuel and mental by Brently, is what allows Loureen in the drama “Poof!” and Mrs. Mallard in the short story “The Story of an Hour” to have the shared freedom they feel in the release from their respective abusive relationships.

Queen, by Audrey Flack is a very captivating piece of artwork. It was painted in 1976, originally Audrey Flack took a picture and then used it as the basis for this painting. Queen is a painting of box that is full of special mementos. It has features such as a quarter of an open orange, a rose, a pocket watch, a queen playing card, a locket of an older and a younger woman, lip balm, perfume, a chess piece, blush, and a chain necklace with the letter “F” on it. The painting almost looks like a vanity drawer or a keepsake drawer. However, realizing the fruits and flower in the painting I understood it to be a collection of the artist's memories as opposed to a drawer. Audrey Flack was demonstrating the many things that were significant to her while aging. Queen signifies the fight against time. It shows that no matter what possessions you retain it will not keep you young. No one can win the battle against time.

The heroine, Mrs. P, has some carries some characteristics parallel to Louise Mallard in “Hour.” The women of her time are limited by cultural convention. Yet, Mrs. P, (like Louise) begins to experience a new freedom of imagination, a zest for life , in the immediate absence of her husband. She realizes, through interior monologues, that she has been held back, that her station in life cannot and will not afford her the kind of freedom to explore freely and openly the emotions that are as much a part of her as they are not a part of Leonce. Here is a primary irony.

Flavia de Luce’s character, in Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, although the youngest, is distinguished to be the most elaborate. She is a single-handed inquirer with brilliance that adds up to make her the perfect detective who drives the novel. Although contradictory, Flavia can be seen as more mentally mature

There are different kinds of power. There is, of course, the power over another person. A power in superiority, in dominance that makes people afraid. There’s power in acceptance too. Any person who has been welcomed by their peers has more power than one that has not. In my own life, I struggle with power, and what kind of power I should want. My need for power likely stems from a fundamental desire to fit in. Some days the power I crave is simply in acceptance. Acceptance from peers, friends, or family. On other, less agreeable days, the power I desire is in superiority, dominance, the power to make people listen to what you have to say. In the short story Saint Marie by Louise Erdrich, Marie, like me, seeks power. However, the power she craves is in relation to God and the convent she has been raised to look up to. At the convent, Marie struggles between wanting acceptance from the Sisters and desiring superiority over them, especially Leopolda. The first, acceptance, Marie mentions before joining the convent: “I was going up there to pray as good as they could” (1). Marie strives to be as good: as holy as the Sisters. Once she joins the convent, she hopes to be accepted by them. Superiority, the second kind of power, she uses as a threat to Leopolda. Marie threatened that she would “get to heaven first,” and when Leopolda arrived, she would “shut the gate” (5). Here, she strives for superiority over Leopolda by blocking her out of heaven rather than

In this section, Jeannette Walls starts off, in the present time by telling the readers about her seeing her mom on the street, that she hasn’t seen in a long time. Jeannette uses emotional words like blustering and fretted to show that seeing her mom was an emotional time. Later in the section, she goes way back into her life to when she was three years old and when her family and her was living in the desert. She started off telling a story of when she was on fire. This story was intense, it was really dramatic on her parents part, her dad was screaming at her and the doctor a lot. Then she talked about when they moved to Las Vegas, her family lived in a motel room, which didn’t last long, they had to leave Vegas in a rush, because her dad was cheating in blackjack and the dealer found out. The last story in the section is where her family drove to San Francisco and stayed in another motel. One night her dad was at the bar, across the street. He left Jeannette and her three other siblings in the room. Jeannette got bored so she decided to play with fire and that let to a big disaster resulting in the whole hotel burning down.

“He [Jeannette’s father, Rex] will not keep me out of harm’s way, he will put me in harm’s way and I have to find a way to remove myself from the situation.” (Diversity Connection). I feel like this quote, from Jeannette, came t directly from the situation where Rex took her out to the bar to help him earn money for alcohol, but yet she still doesn’t see herself as a victim. Even though Jeannette Walls was the victim of sexual abuse at a very young age, she tries to recreate the freedom from her childhood into her adult life, But in her younger years where she has no occupational activities, no nurturing, no money and no friends to turn to, it proves to be very hard to maintain.

The narrator in Louise Erdrich’s The Strange People is characterized as a doe, a “lean gray witch” (i, 20) and finally, a “shadowy body.”(i, 25) Her own actions ultimately trigger this transformation, and are further emphasized through three jarring shifts within the poem. Despite portraying the narrator as prey in the beginning, she is not faultless. By placing double meanings on the word “burning,” (i, 6) it allows the self-destructive actions of the narrator to be evident. Also, by juxtaposing the cold and warmth described in the poem, the reasoning behind the doe’s self-destructive actions is explained, and ultimately paints her in a more nuanced light. Even so, her self-destructive actions highlight the consequences resulting from her attempt at self-preservation. She transforms into a “lean gray witch” to save herself, and yet it destroys her self-identity. The poem exposes the bleak yet nuanced consequences of destructive desires and self-preservation, and how even when necessary and justified, leads to the unfortunate loss of one’s identity.

As a forerunner of the modern feminist movement, Kate Chopin explored bold new characterizations of her female subjects. Chopin is famous for her progressive depiction of the female characters in her stories. Two such stories, 'The Storm' and 'The Story of an Hour,' examine and refute the long held ideal of the subservient wife. 'The Storm,' written in 1898 but not published until later because of its provocative content, describes the passionate extramarital affair between Calixta and Alcee, a former lover. 'The Story of an Hour' follows Louise Mallard as she deals with the death of her husband. Chopin uses the extraordinary events in the characters' lives to

Nanapush talks about the conditions of his Native American tribe in North Dakota. He is considered an elder although he is only fifty years old. Nanapush is talking to someone he calls Granddaughter about how he saves her mother, Fleur Pillager. Fleur recuperates and bonds with Nanapush over their dead families. When the weather permits, Fleur and Nanapush bury the dead Pillagers. Nanapush makes the clan markers, which is the symbol of a bear. Back at Nanapush's place, Nanapush and Fleur suffer from their losses. The new priest, Father Damian, interrupts them. He says that Fleur's cousin Moses has been found alive in the woods. Fleur and Nanapush are startled by his visit, but they are hospitable to their

The communities' responses to her rebellion are the most familiar of all our collective traits. If the setting had been changed, Fleur could have been denounced as a witch, heretic, dissenter, bourgouise, intellectual, or evil-doer. It's only a matter of timing and locale. And like genuine